Archive for March, 2010
PEOPLE with Disabilities
Posted by: | CommentsLike many of you, this month Alliance for Audience submitted its grant application to the Arizona Commission on the Arts.
New this year was the requirement to submit a detailed Accessibility Plan. And I’m particularly grateful to Margaret Fallon (AFA’s amazing ”Director of Everything that Needs Doing“) who researched and wrote our plan – and who worked closely with ARTability and the staff of the Arizona Commission on the Arts to craft something appropriate and useful to guide our continuing efforts.
Accessibility is truly a CORE function of any organization’s audience development undertaking. This must NOT be just a document for the files. Margaret has added an “Accessibility Moment” to our weekly staff meetings to keep us thinking, planning and acting upon our accessibility responsibilities.
This week’s discussion topic was about remembering that when we communicate about someone who has a disability, it’s important to always talk about the PERSON first. (I cringe, in retrospect, remembering a time when I heard one usher at a theatre call out to another, ”We got another wheelchair!” )
In case you weren’t prompted by the Commission’s grant process – please let me suggest that NOW is an opportune time to address your own accessibility plan. We suggest starting here: http://www.artability.org/mainmenu.html
(And if you want to see the accessibility plan for Alliance for Audience & ShowUp.com – simply e-mail Margaret at MFallon@allianceforaudience.org and we’re happy to share.)
Got a Deal for the Arizona Republic?
Posted by: | CommentsDuring April, the Arizona Republic’s Arizona Living section will be publishing a newsroom-produced “deals blowout” on each of the four Sundays. The Republic intends to bring readers the best deals and values so that they can enjoy Arizona, its arts, entertainment and dining the whole month long. Each of the deals featured will be a 2-for-1 bargain.
The deals will be themed each Sunday. April 4 will feature dining deals. On April 11, the theme is Arizona travel bargains. On April 18, entertainment and event deals will be featured. Arts deals will be the theme on April 25.
The Republic will be running the best 25 bargains in the Arizona Living Sunday section, and also posting those and as many other bargains as they can online.
The Republic has created a form by which local organizations, museums, businesses and venues can submit information to Deals reporter Sue Doerfler. The form can be found at www.dealsblowout.azcentral.com.
Arts in Crisis
Posted by: | CommentsI’m delighted to share this invitation from Phoenix Theatre…
EVENT INFORMATION
Arts in Crisis: A Community Conversation with Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser
MONDAY, APRIL 12, 2010
• 2:30 – 3:00pm Registration/Networking
• 3:00 – 4:30pm Conversation with Michael Kaiser
moderated by Robert Booker
Phoenix Theatre is proud to host Michael Kaiser’s visit to Phoenix as a part of Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative. Kaiser will address the challenges facing non-profit performing arts organizations today through such areas as fundraising, building more effective boards of trustees, budgeting, and marketing. Robert Booker, executive director, Arizona Commission on the Arts, will conduct an interview with Michael Kaiser and invite questions from the audience.
This event is free and open to the public.
Please pre-register by April 5th to ensure a seat.
To register or for more information please call 602.889.5298 or email l.balch@phoenixtheatre.com
For more information about Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative, please visit www.artsincrisis.org
Words of Thanks
Posted by: | CommentsTo this morning’s news regarding MPAC – www.allianceforaudience.org/News-Release-MPAC-Flinn-Piper.pdf - let’s add one very important comment:
Thank you…
- to Myra Millinger,
- to the MPAC staff team,
- to the MPAC Board of Directors,
- to the Foundations that supported this endeavor,
- and to the many arts & cultural community leaders who devoted time & effort to this cause.
ShowUp.com launching in Prescott Area on March 18
Posted by: | CommentsIn partnership with the Prescott Area Arts & Humanities Council, Alliance for Audience is extending its ShowUp.com services to the Prescott Area beginning March 18.
If you’re in the area (or are looking for a good excuse to BE in the area), please consider yourself invited to the launch ceremony. Find your invitation here.
Here’s an interesting calculation: the populations of Greater Phoenix, Metro Tucson, Flagstaff and the Prescott Area (communities served by ShowUp.com) total 82 percent of the total population of the State of Arizona.
When will Form follow Function?
Posted by: | CommentsA respected colleague observed recently that art is progressive – and arts administration is conservative.
His point was that it is the very purpose of art to explore and experiment, to challenge old thinking, to provide new insights, and to offer engaging experiences. Creativity is the essence of art.
Arts administration, by contrast, is focused on gathering extremely hard-to-find resources (think contributions and stakeholders), and managing those hard-won assets as judiciously as possible. Preservation is the core of arts management.
The distinction is not absolute. There have always been arts administrators whose creative leadership has blazed new trails. Conversely, some artists care more about preserving a tradition than for pioneering new territory.
But I’m interested in a more basic question: Does the concept “Form Follows Function” hold true in the arts & cultural community? Do practices grounded in “preservation” sufficiently advance the cause of “creativity?”
To ask the question in this era, “The Great Recession”, is almost oxymoronic. An arts manager would be criticized for anything less than a proactive, all-out effort to batten down the hatches. The instinct for self-preservation is a basic of human behavior and is clearly the foremost duty of arts administrator for organizations right now.
But can the arts & cultural community “preserve” its way back to health? Does anybody really believe that continued budget stresses really make us stronger or serve audiences?
Author Jim Collins calls this “the new normal.” He advises to expect that the world will be like this for a while. So here we are, each of us guarding our precious limited resources in whatever safe place our organizations have been able to carve out. Understandably, there’s a lot of “protecting” going on. Can we sit here quietly a little longer? Sure. It’s a tough and scary world out there. There’s no shame (or blame) in being cautious.
Yet, there are arts administrators who are talking. And they’re saying that there IS a world out there. And it’s a world that, more than ever, needs the energy, insights and inspiration that the arts & cultural community so uniquely supplies.
- They are arguing that “hunkering down” is a tactic to survive the short term – but it’s not a strategy for recovery.
- They are re-inventing how they use technology (especially free web applications) to engage audiences.
- They are in new discussions about how to collaborate with others.
- They are connecting with organizations around the Valley, the State, the Country and the World.
- They are empowering their staffs to explore and experiment.
- They are not just “open” to new ideas – they are inviting them from many different sources.
It hit me this week – like the one morning you wake up to discover that all the Spring flowers have blossomed. Form really DOES follow function! Despite a long ”winter” of extreme hardship - a period of creative, exciting, productive and transformative arts management lies directly ahead.
It’s time to be creative again.